It is an industry that has been dominated for years by men but the tide appears to be turning for female TV writers after a search by the BBC to find the next creator of a hit series like Bodyguard resulted in women winning all but one of the places in its new Writers’ Academy.
Earlier this year the corporation’s production arm, BBC Studios, began a hunt to find a new generation of writers it hopes will follow in the footsteps of the likes of Jed Mercurio, who penned Line of Duty and Bodyguard, and Sally Wainwright, who wrote Gentleman Jack and Happy Valley.
The BBC said the recruitment process focused on talent, not gender, but showed a sea change is happening in television when the search ended with seven of the eight successful candidates being women, some of whom have been inspired by high-profile female writers such as Wainwright and Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
The head of the academy, John Yorke, who oversaw shows including EastEnders, The Archers and Wolf Hall, said: “When we set out to recruit for this year’s Writers’ Academy we thought, like in previous years, we’d get a fairly equal gender spread with a small bias towards men. However, it’s been thrilling to see not just a vast increase in female candidates, but a far greater percentage in the final stages than ever before.
“We arrived at our final eight with no preconceived plan – the only criterion was excellence. That seven of our eight students are female is an indication that something has shifted and something very exciting is happening with the next generation of writers.”
The places come with work on hit shows such as EastEnders and Casualty and a three-month course with guidance from Mercurio and other writers such as Doctor Who and Years and Years creator Russell T Davies.
Each graduate will be paid, work with some of the BBC’s independent production companies and be optioned by BBC Studios for two years, as the corporation tries to create more of its own shows in a bid to fight back against the deep pockets of Netflix and the global technology companies that have moved into programme making, such as Apple and Amazon.
BBC Studios’ chief creative officer, Mark Linsey, said: “Investing in new and emerging talent to tell quintessential British stories is at the heart of BBC Studios’ intellectual property strategy, as well as being crucial to the continued success and performance of our production output.”
The seven women come from a diverse background and are already up-and-coming writers. They include performance poet Jess Green, who wrote a show called A Self Help Guide to Being in Love With Jeremy Corbyn and Katerina Watson, a playwright who penned Chateau Marmont, an indictment of sexual coercion in the film industry.
One of the winners, Emma Dennis-Edwards, a playwright of Jamaican and Trinidadian heritage, said: “It feels amazing to be chosen to follow in the footsteps of the brilliant writers who have written for BBC continuing drama as well as learn from the writers and showrunners who are working on them today,” while another, Lydia Marchant, said: “To have the chance to write for some of the UK’s most iconic shows is incredible.”
The only successful male candidate, Tom Powell, added: “This is a chance to learn from, and work closely with, some of the best in the business, and to work on some of the most exciting and best loved shows on TV. I’m delighted, and excited to get started.”
